AT&T CEO Doubts Regulators Will Approve Sprint/T-Mobile Deal

Sprint’s plans to acquire T-Mobile is one that isn’t new, nor is it a secret. Some have expressed their skepticism over the deal, such as AT&T’s CFO, and it looks like he is joined by his company’s CEO who has similarly expressed doubts that the deal will be approved. He isn’t alone or is he wrong in his sentiments because word has it that the FCC themselves are deadset against it happening, even before it has been announced.

Speaking at the Economic Club in Washington D.C., AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, was quoted as saying, “The problem as I see it is the way the government shut our deal down. They wrote a complaint and a very specific complaint. You’re consolidating the industry from four to three national competitors. If you think of Sprint and T-Mobile combining, I struggle to understand how that’s not four going to three.”

However Softbank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, seems to be pretty optimistic about it, or at the very least is pretty stubborn and refuses to admit defeat and appears to be set on moving ahead with their proposal later this summer. Previous reports are also claiming that T-Mobile has asked Sprint for a $1 billion breakup fee should the deal fall through after it has been announced, a fee which Son does not seem to relish paying.

As it stands, AT&T themselves are still trying to get regulators to approve their plan to acquire DirecTV. If the regulators don’t approve AT&T’s attempts to acquire a satellite TV company, we’re not sure if they will approve Sprint’s plan to buyout T-Mobile.